With the need for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) growing on the East End of Suffolk County and within the healthcare field at large, new facilities to train the next generation of SLPs have opened at Stony Brook Southampton. The School of Health Technology and Management’s (SHTM) Master’s of Science in SLP opened its high-tech facilities on September 17 with a ribbon-cutting and tour of the facilities.

At the ribbon cutting for the SLP program new facilities on the Stony Brook Southampton campus are, from left: Anthony Palumbo, NY State Senator; Renee Fabus, Chair of the SLP Program; Paul Goldbart, Stony Brook University Provost: Fredric Weinbaum, MD, Chief Medical and Operating Officer, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital; Maurie McInnis, Stony Brook University President; Stacy Jaffee Gropack, Dean of the SHTM; Stephen D’Amico, SLP graduate student, and Fred W. Thiele, Jr., NYS Assemblyman.

The expertise of SLPs helps optimize speech rehabilitation and clinical care for patients with stroke, neurological diseases, post-Covid issues, children with autism and other disorders, and individuals learning English as a second language.

“The challenges of the past year have served as an accelerant – bringing together different fields, departments, industries, and disciplines toward the common goal of protecting our community, and serving the health needs of our friends and neighbors,” said Maurie McInnis, President of Stony Brook University. “The opening of the Speech-Language Pathology Program facilities here on our Southampton campus is a great example of this. A collaboration between the Speech-Language Pathology Department and Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, the new facilities support an interprofessional model of learning that is critical to Stony Brook’s healthcare education mission.”

The new facility includes classrooms, labs, and a control room, with the latest technology for speech-language pathology education including simulation training and video-conferencing capacities. There is a bilingual component of the program which is crucial, as recent US Census data show that 22 percent of Suffolk households speak a language other than English.

“The addition of the SLP program complements our already strong educational programming in the areas of the health professions,” said Stacy Jaffee Gropack, Dean of the SHTM. “The SLP program adds to our nationally ranked occupational and physical therapy programs, rounding out programs related to rehabilitation, which are unique and much needed on the East End of Long Island.”

Read the full story: https://news.stonybrook.edu/newsroom/press-release/medical/stony-brook-speech-language-pathology-program-expands-meets-educational-and-healthcare-needs-on-lis-east-end/